Vine damage caused by spring frosts remains one of the main factors threatening grapevine yields in Central European countries, such as Poland. April frosts that followed a very early and warm spring in 2024 caused massive damage to young shoots and primary buds after budburst. This study was conducted on vines of fifty cultivars belonging to Vitis vinifera (VINs), interspecific hybrids (IHs), and inter-intra- or intra-interspecific hybrids (IIHs,  classified by some sources as V. vinifera), which were obtained via field collection. The aim of this study was to obtain primary results regarding the fertility of secondary, basal, and latent buds. The presence of inflorescences in these buds determines the ability to compensate for yield, i.e., produce a crop after damage to the primary buds. The tested cultivars, which were within the three groups mentioned above, differed significantly in their ability to compensate for yield. The ability to compensate for yield after frost was a cultivar-dependent feature, but most of the analyzed VINs were characterized by lower fertility in their secondary, basal, and latent buds and a reduced capacity to compensate for yield after post-budburst frost damage compared to the IHs and IIHs. A very high or high yield compensation ability was identified in two of the sixteen analyzed VINs (’Rubinet’ and ’Riesling’); in ten out of eleven IHs (including ’Bianca’, ’Frontenac’, and ’Seyval Blanc’); and in sixteen out of twenty-three IIHs (including ’Cabernet Cantor’, ’Monarch’, ’Hibernal’, ’Solaris’, and ’Regent’).

Future research, with more comprehensive data collected over a longer period, will provide stronger suggestions for suitable cultivars in regions at risk of spring frost damage.

The National Institute of Horticultural Research, Konstytucji 3 Maja 1/3 Str., 96-100 Skierniewice, Poland; jerzy.lisek@inhort.pl